


The Dance of the Cranes

by trascendenza



Category: Northern Exposure
Genre: M/M, Personal Favorite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-26
Updated: 2007-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-04 06:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trascendenza/pseuds/trascendenza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Semi-coda to Episode 4x07, The Bad Seed. <em>The birds have their own wisdom, their own set of dances.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dance of the Cranes

"Look at her go," Ed said, tilting his head back as Princess flew, flew up and away.

"You did it, buddy." Chris slung his arm around Ed's shoulder, patting him on the chest and whooping as they watched Princess circle, full of grace and light, her wings opened wide, sleek form gliding across the breathless blue.

They fell silent with respectful reverence when the male—Prince, Ed had pragmatically named him when they'd been strategizing about today—flew up to join her.

The cranes beat up into the air in harmony, disappearing from sight one pulsing glide at a time.

"Gee, I never knew dancing could do _that._" Ed shook his head in amazement.

"Never underestimate form and movement, my friend. Two of the oldest and greatest powers in the world, song and dance." Chris waved his hand as he spoke, encompassing the whole of the lake and the vista of trees in front of them. The lake rippled with blue and cornsilk stripes of yellow where the slanting sun struck down. "What we did, Ed, was combine expressions—we found a way to speak to Princess on a deeper level than we could through mere mashed-up worms or strokes on her fine-feathered neck. We were speaking her language, and she heard us, the same way that a brother hears a sister, that a man hears gods. In a brief flash of revelation, we transcended the mortal coil and entered the realm of universal communication."

"Wow," Ed said, and in his special way, infused that one drawn-out syllable with just as much meaning as the whole of Chris's sentiment.

Chris smiled. Turning away from the lake, he canted his body towards Ed, and raised his hand up, resting it on the side of Ed's face.

"Beautiful, wasn't it, helping your little girl find love?"

Ed nodded. "I'm real glad she's happy."

"And how about you, Ed?" Chris's hand, still cupping Ed's face, sunk into deeper contact. His thumb brushed Ed's cheekbone, then settled into the pale hollow of the bone, fitting perfectly. "Are you happy?"

"Pretty happy right now." Ed reached up and tucked a lock of Chris's hair behind his ear. "What about you, Chris?"

"Good, Ed. Definitely good." His eyes lost their focus, as if he were gazing at a faraway reflection of himself. "I'm starting to see that I wasn't participating in the everyday dance enough, Ed. That, really, dancing and flying are two sides of the same not-so-metaphorical coin of soulful movement—one, you're in the air, soaring, the other, down on the ground, yes, but no less euphoric and no heavier for it. The elevation comes just as much from the mind as the body. I think I've been missing that, the dancing—all the exhilaration of the big old blue right down here on brown old earth."

Slowly, Chris's eyes came back to what was in front of him, and he smiled, the slightly lopsided and ducking grin that he usually reserved for the inside of his dark studio. He brought his other arm up around Ed's shoulders, and leaned down, pressing their foreheads delicately together.

"Do you see what I'm getting at here, brother?"

Ed put a hand on the back of his neck, looking up. "I'm not really sure, Chris, but if it means you're gonna stop talking now and kiss me, I think you better do it or else I'm gonna have to kiss you. And you're kinda tall, so it's probably better that you do it."

Chris laughed, but not with mirth—with the breathlessness of high altitude. Their mouths met, and they said goodbye to the perceptions of weight and heaviness, goodbye to the beating wings of Princess, and hello to the wet and muddied earthiness of each other, the quiet laughter that can only be heard in the hush of the forest.

They found the airborne steps, dancing a sacred and timeless rhythm into earth beneath their feet.


End file.
